High Voltage

"WHAT A BEAUTIFUL BUZZ, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL BUZZ!!"
-Phish

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Minimum Wage Reform Needs To Happen

I didn't think to much about this sort of stuff back when I was working in retail. I was making over minimum wage and I only needed the money to spend on going out to movies, concerts, and sometimes gas, not for mortgage, utility, and other bills. For the rest I had my parents to provide food, shelter, insurance, etc.

30 Days is a show where people, including the creator of the show Morgan Spurlock, live "new" lives, living in someone else's shoes, for 30 days. I saw clips of the episode where Spurlock and his girlfriend both work minimum wage [$5.15/hr] blue collar jobs with no health insurance and support a family of 4. The labor was backbreaking and neither one of them could miss a single day of work or it would mean one less paycheck which could result in . A day at the movies also seemed to set them back. When they both ran into health problems, the hospital bill put them in debt. By the end of the 30 days, Spurlock was around approx. $1200 in debt. [side note: this doesn't include gas or car payments or car insurance. public transportation was used]

If someone is working 40 hrs per week at $5.15/hr, then they only make a scant $10712 before taxes. Even if 2 people work, there is no way in hell that they can support a family. These people work hard and deserve better, especially as the cost of living seems to only be going up. I find it disturbing that Congress can veto a bill to increase minimum wage and yet pass a bill that gives their greedy asses a juicy raise [this has happened in the past few months]. They already make 6 figures, do they really need more? Hell no. Reform needs to be happen.

Sunday, May 28, 2006

A Long Overdue Rant: Foreign Language and Education

There have been changes in education that have been taking place in recent years. One change in particular is classes involving foreign language.

Where I live in NJ, in elementary school [1-6], although not implemented when I attended, my sisters had Spanish "class" twice a week or so starting in second or third grade. In middle school [7,8], us students were forced into taking either Spanish or French. In high school, the district enacted a new policy which states that one of the graduation requirements is to take two years of foreign language [this being done the year after I entered H.S.].

In case any reader doesn't already know this, I will let you in on what we the students think of these classes. NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE takes these classes seriously. People finish assignments a period or so before the assignment is due, not because of the workload for other classes, but because we just don't care. People also cut these classes. In addition, foreign language classes hurt GPA levels, instead of getting an A in an elective, people will get C's. This also hurts in the long run when applying to colleges. Something so trivial as Spanish can make or break your future.

Now in college, stands the real problem that I have. They are trying to implement foreign language as a MANDATORY class in some majors [not language majors] such as business. This is a crock of shit. I took my placement test a few weeks ago, and it involved two parts: a.) the english and math and b.) the foreign language. This one took about an hour and out of 80 questions, I was able to guess, with 90% accuracy, on 10. It was a good nap, but a waste of an hour. People should not be forced to take these classes at all, especially in college, where hard earned money is supposed to be spent on a real education. If they think that people will accept this, they are in for a rude awakening.

Our country is becoming to accepting when it comes to immigrants and language. My ancestors, as well as most people's ancestors, came into this country knowing nothing of the American culture. But they had to learn English in order to make it here. Nowadays, our country will make everything bilingual- just dial a credit card company to find your balance and you will hear "para espanol prima dos" or you will see a place advertise that they accomodate language needs.

There is also something else that is upsetting about district budgets. The first thing that schools look to cut is always art and music. They don't look at foreign language departments. Without music and art in schools, kids become uncultured.

To conclude, if people want to live and succeed in our country, they should learn English, not the other way around. Foreign language should be the first programs cut from schools, not art and music. It is wrong to force people to pay for foreign language courses in college, which many people have difficuties paying for school anyway [like myself]. I would like to point out that our country is starting to move in the right direction. I saw in the news a little while ago that Congress is drafting a bill that would make English the official language of the US. I don't know how much headway this is making, but all I have to say is it's about fucking time.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

It's About Time

Today, is the day that the NJ smoking ban goes into effect. I think we're the 14th state to pass such a law. Now people can eat food, play pool, and go to concerts without catching emphazima [inside joke, no one will get it] and second hand smoke. The only place that is exempt from this is casinos. Having not gone to Vegas casinos, I was wondering if any/all casinos had a ban. At the WSOP, the players were not allowed to light up a smoke. Here's to going out.

It's That Time Of Year

Monday, February 06, 2006

A Great Four Day Weekend

What an amazing weekend. On Friday I saw an amazing concert. On Saturday my friend and I progressed a lot on a song we are working on. Yesterday was an amazing Super Bowl party. And today, I got an acceptance letter to Towson University. Could anything make this better?

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

The Results Are In

Samuel Alito won "one of the narrowest Senate confirmation votes in a century" to take the reigns over for Justice O'Connor. The vote was 58-42, not even close considering Thomas's vote was 52-48. I'm curious to see if Alito stands by what he said during the series of question's he encountered. Only time will tell. I wonder why the Dems didn't filibuster, but that doesn't matter much now.

I think we owe Warren a golf clap. He picked the winning day- the 31st. Warren wins the pool and the prize is not going to Disney World. Congrats!

About Me

In the words of the late James Marshall Hendrix, "Music is my religion." Music is my passion and favorite hobby. I can't imagine my life without it. It keeps me sane in my little world, offers me some solace in times of grief, and gets the blood flowing while working out.